Dream of the Thousand Men

I dreamed I was
a red-haired girl who fell
into a lake of semen.
I locked my strong thighs together like
holding a gulp of air.
Strange things moved in the thick milk.
A hand fell under my arm,
dragged me out.
I coughed on the shore,
the bearded lips of Dionysus
kissed me.

I dreamed the Thousand Men hanging.
You, as tall as a father, whispered,
“They are the year gods of all the years.”
A moth wove past your ankle.
Disgusted with myself
I gave birth to the head of a donkey.
You held it up, dirtied with my blood,
bright as a Christchild.

I dreamed of my naked body on the ground
knocked down by the snowchild women with their heavy masks.
The sound of drums.
From behind the mask
once again you touch me.
All night long warm
beneath a shadow of you the fire has designed
I beat on the earth.
The song we sing tells me
when I awake
your name will continue to dance away from my tongue.